1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network system including a data input terminal enabling data entry, a data output terminal for outputting information based on the data entered from the data input terminal, and a data processing server in communication via a network for centrally controlling the data input terminal and data output terminal. The invention also relates to a portable data entry terminal, a program, and a data output terminal control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Restaurants and similar retail businesses commonly use portable data entry terminals communicating over a network to receive and process orders. Each waiter or waitress, i.e., customer server carries a portable data input terminal for entering customer orders. The data input terminal then sends the orders over a wireless network to a server and printer, which are also connected to the network, for processing and printing. See, for example, JP-A-2003-122966.
In this system, each customer server carries a portable data input terminal. When an order is taken from a customer, the server enters the order together with the customer's table number into the portable data input terminal, which communicates with a network system over a wireless data communication channel. The network system generates a cooking order for the kitchen and a transaction record for accounting based on the order information received from the portable data input terminal. The cooking order is sent to a printer located in the kitchen. Based on the information received from the network system, the printer prints a cooking order for the kitchen and an invoice for the customer server. The printed cooking order is taken by a member of the kitchen staff (customer server), which then prepares a meal accordingly. The printed invoice is given to the customer.
In a typical network system such as described above, the slips are printed by a printer located in the kitchen. Therefore, while the customer server enters customer orders in the hand-held data input terminal, the server must go to the printer located in the kitchen to get the printed customer invoice. The customer server must therefore travel between the customer and the kitchen each time a customer order is received, which can become quite time-consuming.
To solve this problem, more recent network systems provide a mobile printer having a wireless data communication function with the hand-held data input terminal. Customer bills can thus be printed by the customer server using the mobile printer and immediately handed to the customer without the server having to go to the kitchen or other stationary printer. At the same time, cooking orders are still printed by a printer located in the kitchen so that the kitchen staff can receive orders in a timely fashion and complete the order.
This type of network system, however, requires relatively complex wireless data communication management to handle wireless communications between the many devices, including the hand-held data input terminals and mobile printers, kitchen printers, POS terminals (point-of-sale transaction terminals), and other devices. Moreover, since each customer server usually has a hand-held data input terminal/mobile printer, the number of these devices increases as the number of customer servers currently working increases, and all such currently active terminals and printers must be managed. In addition, the hand-held data input terminals and mobile printers are used in pairs, and which mobile printer is used with which data input terminal must be managed. These variable factors make managing wireless communication even more difficult.
Network systems of this type are not limited to use in restaurants; rather, they are increasingly used in warehousing and distribution systems in which a large volume of products and goods are handled. As a result, even more functions are required. Providing such additional functionality requires developing specialized control programs, including specific wireless communications management functions appropriate to the application, and storing the control program in the network system. Introducing a network system that provides the management functionality needed to handle such complex wireless communications is expensive, and such systems are susceptible to communication problems. These problems continue to inhibit widespread adoption of wireless network systems.